Good film but intense ending, 20 May 2008 Author: Aragorn-Elfstone76 from Singapore

In essence, this film was good. It tells the coming of age story of a 15 year old Antonio who’s discovering his sexual identity. At first, I thought it was boring with lots and lots of conversations. But as the story progresses, we are not only delved into his relationship with his mother but also his friends and community, in which he was involved as part of a choir for the Christmas carol.

We also see how Antonio’s relationship with his uncle, Jonbert, soon became an incestuous one. The climax of the film grew even more intense with two simultaneous occurrence going on at the same time…

One, Tere (Antonio’s mother) discovered the secret marriage of her husband in Dubai. The other was the rape scene in which Jonbert (Antonio’s uncle) forced anal sex on to the 15-year old. I believe this latter scene was the most intense throughout as we could see Antonio’s torment during the rape. As a result of the two occurrences collided, Anotnio’s mother got home just in time to save her son by stabbing Jonbert thus killing him in the process.

At the end of the film, audiences would be left with a feeling of disturbed emotions as Antonio and his mother were escorted by the authorities.

Overall, I’d say this was a pretty good Filipino film so far that I’ve seen.